The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has awarded a total of 33,387 job contracts, or letter of agreements (LOA) to upland farmers under its Upland Development Program (UDP).

DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said the contracts represent 64 percent of this year’s target.

Another 7,200 applications or “letters of intent” (LOI) are presently being processed at various DENR field offices and are expected to be issued with LOAs within June or early July, he said.

The program aims to create jobs for upland dwellers through various activities ranging from tree planting to forest and wildlife protection and preservation.

“At the rate the UDP is moving, I wouldn’t be surprised if our target of providing ‘green collar’ jobs to residents in the uplands, as well as in coastal areas is attained within the third quarter of the year,” Atienza said, noting that the latest numbers of issued LOIs and LOAs represent 77 percent of UDP’s targeted 52,425 jobs.

Launched in February, the UDP supports the government’s “Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program,” which is part of President Arroyo’s efforts to curb the country’s unemployment rate being aggravated by the current global economic crunch.

According to Atienza, the DENR has released a total of P724 million to its 15 regional offices nationwide, including the DENR Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, following the issuance of a Special Allotment Release Order or Saro by the Department of Budget and Management on June 11 for the release of P1.5 billion of UDP funds.

“This is in synch with the Neda’s [National Economic and Development Authority] formula on accelerated government spending on job creation to keep up, if not overtake, the rate of lost jobs as a result of the global financial meltdown,” Atienza added.

Through UDP, the DENR aims to reforest or boost with agro-forestry activities some 50,000 hectares of denuded upland areas and about 2,000 hectares of mangrove areas.

“Such opportunities will help give our upland families economic resiliency in dealing with the impact of the current global financial crisis while enabling them to take active part in fighting global warming,” Atienza said.

As much as one hectare will be allotted to every UDP beneficiary to develop into an agroforestry farm, with a yearly projected earning of around P23,000 from the proceeds of his agro-forestry activities, including a monthly allowance of P3,270.

UDP’s reforestation scheme gives each beneficiary a hectare to plant and maintain trees suitable to the area. Each worker will also get as much as P19,400 to defray cost and services for seedling production and planting and maintenance.

At least 22 million forest and fruit-bearing trees are expected to be planted in the undertaking.

Atienza noted the employment figures recently released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Neda as indications that President Arroyo’s economic stimulus plan is indeed gaining headway.

According to NSO, the unemployment rate reached 7.5 percent  as of April this year from 8 percent a year earlier.

“President Arroyo’s broad-based approach resulted in the employment growth posted as of April this year which particularly benefited economies in the provinces,” Atienza noted, as he cited Neda  figures showing 408,000 new jobs were created in agriculture, fishery and forestry sector or up 3.4 percent in the  comparable period.